From the words of the Midrash Rabbah, Parshat Balak: Balak sent a message to the sages of Midian. “The leader of the Jews, Moses, grew up among you. Can you reveal to me the secret of his success?”
In the response that he received it said, “This snake, Moses, truly suckled from our breast. A Midianite invited him to his home, gave his daughter to him as his wife and provided him with money.”
To provide money means to supply a spiritual Masach (Screen).
Moses constructed a screen against his egoism [1], otherwise he would not have been able to oppose Pharaoh. For forty years, Moses lived in his house and used the same methods as Pharaoh, automatically obeying him. Then, he spent forty years with the Midianites and married the daughter of Jethro.
During this time, Moses attained such a level that he could return to Pharaoh and confront him, in other words, he could rebel against the universal egoism. Jethro gave him this method.
Moses began to understand the language of the Creator [2]. When he leaves the house of Jethro to return to Egypt, he already has a connection with the Creator. From the burning bush, the Creator spoke to him, “Go, I will guide you.”
After that, what does Moses have?! His ego started with a special point in the heart that was under the control of Pharaoh for forty years and under the control of Jethro for forty years. Now, he is 80 years old, meaning that he has gained serious egoistic characteristics and some of the characteristics of Bina, which were basically at the level of working for the sake of the ego, but he could stand against Pharaoh.
Question: What does it mean that Jethro the Midianite provided Moses with a wife?
Answer: It means that he gave Moses a completely different desire that made it possible for him to understand side of Pharaoh (egoism). After being inside egoism, it was impossible to understand it because he had the mind and desire of Pharaoh. Moses, being an adopted son who grew up in the house of Pharaoh, was fully immersed in the ego.
However, with Jethro, he received such an understanding of leadership that it became possible for him to stand against Pharaoh. Jethro is the main system of leadership: egoism that is gradually drawn toward altruism, becoming more connected with it.
It is like a person who is already studying the wisdom of Kabbalah [3] and advances even though he is entirely in the ego. However, he already understands something, perceives something, enters a period of preparation, and then to a state of Lo Lishma (Not for Her Name). He begins to understand the system, even though this system is still on the fuzzy side for him.
The fact is that, even if you want to manage your ego, you still need to do this with the help of the Light. When you are within Pharaoh, you cannot manage it. It is just a pitiful, egoistic state from which you are not able to exit.
When you begin to use the characteristics of bestowal and love, you gradually approach the Creator, the correct characteristics of leadership, although you are attracted to the spiritual forces for the sake of the ego. However, it is precisely in this way that you begin to learn about them! It follows that you get dirty by working within the ego, but it is with the help of the spiritual forces.
This is the Klipa (Shell), the impure forces, that gradually help in moving toward true bestowal and love. In the beginning, the bestowal is not true, yet it still exists, at least for the sake of the ego. It is just this way that we move through an intermediate stage called Lo Lishma (for himself), but it is now with some kind of contact with the altruistic system, not with the inflexible Pharaoh who strikes with the ego. He has nothing else; he is fully Klipa.
However, within Pharaoh, altruistic characteristics that will work for him already are manifesting, which are called Erev Rav, the mixed multitude. These people exploit the Kabbalistic system for their own sake, for the sake of their ascent and self-aggrandizement. All of the religions evolved from that.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/8/15
Related Material:
Pharaoh’s Undisciplined Grandson [4]
The “School” Of Jethro [5]
Patience Is The Most Important Quality [6]